MPLS

The video walks you through configuration of Cisco Any Transport over MPLS (AToM). Since Ethernet circuit has become much more common nowadays, we will only focus on providing Layer 2 VPN connectivity using point-to-point Ethernet (EoMPLS) which is considered a type of Virtual Private Wire Service (VPWS). We will compare various mode of operation including Port mode, VLAN mode, and VLAN translation. To get better insight of the underlying protocol and frame structure, we will perform Wireshark packet capture and review control and data packets. 

The video demonstrates an ability to support multiple IPv6 client networks across Cisco IPv4 MPLS VPN. We will show the similarity to the regular MPLS VPN and go over configurations changes that you need to make to the VRF definition and address-family type in order to support VPNv6 routes. For simplicity, we will use static routes for our PE-CE routing in this lab.

The video demonstrates an ability to support multiple IPv6 client networks across Cisco IPv4 MPLS VPN. We will show the similarity to the regular MPLS VPN and go over configurations changes that you need to make to the VRF definition and address-family type in order to support VPNv6 routes. For simplicity, we will use static routes for our PE-CE routing in this lab.

The video demonstrates an ability to transport IPv6 traffic across a Cisco IPv4 MPLS network. Comparing to other IPv6 IP-based tunnelling technologies, you will see that 6PE is simpler to setup and understand as IPv6 route advertisement is natively supported by MPBGP and the solution is very similar to MPLS VPN. Our configuration will be concentrated on the PE routers as they are required to run dual-stack. The P router, however, requires no modification as you will see in this lab.

The video demonstrates an ability to transport IPv6 traffic across a Cisco IPv4 MPLS network. Comparing to other IPv6 IP-based tunnelling technologies, you will see that 6PE is simpler to setup and understand as IPv6 route advertisement is natively supported by MPBGP and the solution is very similar to MPLS VPN. Our configuration will be concentrated on the PE routers as they are required to run dual-stack. The P router, however, requires no modification as you will see in this lab.

The video demonstrates an ability to reroute traffic around a failed router (node) using Fast Reroute feature of Cisco MPLS Traffic Engineering. The concept is very similar to what we saw with Link Protection in the previous video except for the extra label communication from Merge Point (MP) router to Point-of-Local-Repair (PLR) router due to that fact that they are no longer directly connected, which will be elaborated in this video. We will go through the configuration and also perform failover test so you can see this in action.

When you have a critical link that needs to be protected from extended packet loss, it is possible to pre-establish a MPLS TE tunnel (aka NHOP) routed around the link so traffic can be immediately rerouted after the link goes down, by simply start using the MPLS TE label instead of regular label, without having to wait for routing to converge. This method is known as Fast Reroute with Link Protection and we go through the setup and configuration in this video. We will also perform failover test so you can see this in action.

The video goes over a more advance topic of tunnel LSP attributes in Cisco MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE). We have learnt that we can use path option to dictate which links your MPLS TE tunnel should traverse. MPLS TE actually provides you with additional set of tools to get even more granular with the link selection in a form of LSP attributes. Attributes that will be reviewed in this lab includes, bandwidth, priority, attribute flags and affinity. We will also introduce an auto-bandwidth feature as a way to avoid wasting link bandwidth from over-provisioning.

The video goes over a more advance topic of tunnel LSP attributes in Cisco MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE). We have learnt that we can use path option to dictate which links your MPLS TE tunnel should traverse. MPLS TE actually provides you with additional set of tools to get even more granular with the link selection in a form of LSP attributes. Attributes that will be reviewed in this lab includes, bandwidth, priority, attribute flags and affinity. We will also introduce an auto-bandwidth feature as a way to avoid wasting link bandwidth from over-provisioning.

The video goes over a more advance topic of tunnel LSP attributes in Cisco MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE). We have learnt that we can use path option to dictate which links your MPLS TE tunnel should traverse. MPLS TE actually provides you with additional set of tools to get even more granular with the link selection in a form of LSP attributes. Attributes that will be reviewed in this lab includes, bandwidth, priority, attribute flags and affinity. We will also introduce an auto-bandwidth feature as a way to avoid wasting link bandwidth from over-provisioning.